Japan Freight Forwarding Services
Air & Sea Freight Between Japan and the UK

DHL Aviation hires two Asia sales directors

DHL Aviation has appointed two new sales directors to help steer growth for the business in fast-growing Asia markets. Julie Zhu has been hired as senior director, China air capacity sales, and Jaspall Singh has been appointed as senior director, Southeast Asia air capacity sales, said Ingrid Raj, chief cargo officer at DHL Aviation. Confirming the appointments in a LinkedIn post today, Raj said that Zhu began her new role on 15 September and Singh will begin his new role on 1 January. Raj stated: "Southeast Asia and China are two of the world's fastest-growing air cargo regions and deserve dedicated leadership. "That's why I'm delighted to welcome Julie Zhu as Senior Director, China Air Capacity Sales, and to congratulate Jaspall Singh on his appointment as Senior Director, Southeast Asia Air Capacity Sales. "Both will report directly to me, and their appointments reflect our commitment to investing where our customers are growing fastest." Zhu joined DHL from Lufthansa Cargo, where she built her career over 22 years, most recently as head of revenue management and pricing for Asia Pacific. Based in Shanghai, she brings deep insight into China's air cargo landscape. Singh has been part of DHL for 16 years, beginning in Aviation Commercial Services (ACS) Finance and most recently serving as director of revenue management for China and Central and North Asia in Hong Kong. He brings strong transformation and leadership experience to the opportunities ahead in Southeast Asia, where he will be based in Singapore.

India's exporters struggling with shortage of empty boxes at JNPA

Indian container trade stakeholders at JNPA (Nhava Sheva Port) are reporting a growing shortage of empty boxes for exports, as widespread vessel schedule disruption weighs on equipment shipping cycles. The shortage of empties is especially acute for French liner CMA CGM, according to market updates, but is affecting most carriers. Container depots in and around JNPA have told customers they are unable to offer pick-ups of empties for CMA CGM. Freight station service provider Seabird said: "Despite vehicles being sent to the yards and waiting in long queues, containers are still not being released due to the ongoing shortage. This situation is beyond our control and may result in delays or failure to complete the pick-up within the required timeline." According to sources, 40ft boxes are scarcer than other types of equipment. One source told The Loadstar: "We have had difficulty securing empty boxes for bookings with Hapag-Lloyd at several ICDs [inland container depots] in northern India." India is, historically, a deficit region for ocean containers, so repositioning and boxes imported from the Far East remain the major inventory replenishment sources for container lines. Industry, in large part, attributes the equipment crunch to two factors: equipment inventory cycles being hobbled by service reliability pressures; and stronger demand for Indian exports in recent months. Major Indian ports saw a stronger-than-anticipated rush of export shipments last month, particularly bookings to the US, for which 40ft boxes are mostly used. Indeed, JNPA enjoyed record container throughput in August - handling some 832,000 teu, up 12% month on month and 20% year on year, according to official data. Even more significantly, the port handled more export containers than imported boxes, a rare trade pattern at Indian gateways. India's overall goods export trade by value has expanded at a strong pace over the past two months, government data shows. "The 26.12% growth in August is a very encouraging performance, and yet again reflects the resilience, competitiveness, and adaptability of Indian exporters," said SC Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organisations. "Equally significant is the broadening of India's export markets, which indicates that our exporters are increasingly leveraging new and emerging opportunities while strengthening their presence in traditional markets," he added. Meanwhile, other supply chain hurdles are testing the pace of cargo volumes moving in and out of Indian docks. Indian importers and customs brokers have voiced frustration over cargo data filing hiccups, due to glitches on the national electronic platform. Widespread system errors and manifest filing failures have been reported on the ICEGATE -- Indian Customs' integrated gateway portal, leaving importers and customs brokers struggling to clear goods and facing major penalty consequences. Indeed, the Brihanmumbai Custom Brokers' Association said: "Clearance of cargo covered by the affected manifests has come to a complete standstill."

FMC leaves carriers facing open-ended exposure to charge complaints

A potentially significant change at the US Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) has gone largely under the radar, after the regulator confirmed there is no three-year statute of limitations on charge complaints relating to fees assessed on or after 16 June 2022 - leaving carriers exposed to claims that might otherwise have been time-barred. Charge complaints - a mechanism allowing those holding an interest in affected cargoes to challenge carrier fees deemed unfair - experienced a massive post-pandemic uptick as shippers sought recompense for what they saw as unjust detention and demurrage practices. As one source active in litigation told The Loadstar, with much of the activity taking place between 2021 and 2023, the statute of limitations was coming up for claims to be lodged before they timed out, meaning the change could prove a blessing, particularly for SMEs. And yet, outside a few legal circles, little mention has been made of a change that could prevent the expected rush of claims from shippers seeking to lodge cases before the three-year deadline. "From now on, there's no statute of limitations," the source said. They added: "The statute of limitations has always been three years. There's no statute of limitations on charge complaints now, so presumably in 2032 you could go to something from July of 2022 and go after them for it." But ending the statute of limitations is just one part of a far broader push to even out the playing field for SMEs, with the FMC no longer limiting the route through which charge complaints can be made, allowing them to be filed through small claims and formal processes. While this route had been open to shippers and others looking to bring a claim, those who chose not to follow the specific charge complaint mechanism lost the benefit of the Ocean Shipping Reform Act, in which the carrier had to prove the reasonableness of the charge. "Now, no matter which route you choose to take, the burden of proof falls with the carrier who must prove that the amount they have charged is legitimate, and they must do that whatever medium the complaint is lodged through," the source added. Specialist supply chain law firm Husch Blackwell issued a note suggesting that, given the changes, shippers and NVOCCs review their D&D assessments and "ensure they maintain thorough invoice and bill of lading records to preserve potential claims". Sources have told The Loadstar repeatedly over the years that smaller shippers had been forced to make a calculation when it came to the FMC, with the cost of bringing a claim often itself more expensive than what they were ever likely to recoup. With this latest change, shippers have further evidence that, despite initial expectations that the Trump administration would bow to corporate interests, that appears to be the case only when those interests are waving an American flag.